Let Me Remember
by StarkidGirl252
Summary: Once upon a time there was a Queen who'd lost everything she ever loved. A Swan Queen oneshot; how the writers could proceed to make SQ canon from Episode 3X11. Warning: Regina has slightly dark thoughts on her situation until the Savior comes to do what saviors do best. (Btw, in the second section it says it's been a month but I meant to put a year)


**Let Me Remember**

Regina Mills choked down a sob as the Savior looked at her with tears in her eyes and the not-so-Evil Queen bestowed the only gift she could give her son and his birth mother. Emma's eyes were wet and red from crying, and all Regina could do was give her a sad smile in return and try to be strong for all of them.

These last few weeks, Regina had proven to everyone how much Henry (and Emma) had changed her heart. She'd gotten them home to Storybrooke, she'd helped defeat Pan, and she was about to stop the very curse she'd cast out of vengeance all those years ago, now cast by someone else's hands.

Regina wanted to pull Emma to her; she wanted to get lost in the blonde's embrace until all the bad things went away. But a hug couldn't solve this, and Regina knew Emma and Henry needed to get over that town line fast. She kissed her son goodbye and shared a last, fleeting glance with the woman who wouldn't remember her in a few short moments.

When Regina's spell was cast and her magic turned the green cloud to her signature purple, she turned and watched as the rolling yellow death trap drove away with the thing she loved most…perhaps, the two things she loved most.

* * *

Once upon a time there was a Queen who'd lost everything she ever loved.

First it had been her freedom, then it had been her lover. Any possibility at starting over had flown out the window when she became the Queen. Slowly her happiness and faith faded too. Her dear father had departed this world, and at her own hands. After that, she'd lost the curse. Of course, she didn't really love it, she just told herself that. And now she'd lost her son and the woman who'd given birth to him.

The Queen sat in her castle that had, before the death of Snow's father, been more like a prison. As Snow and Charming's castle was in poor shape, everyone was being housed in Regina's for the time being. Although Regina didn't speak much, she was glad of the company. The chatter that filled the halls with sound reminded her that she wasn't physically alone, however alone she might feel.

It had been a month since the obliteration of her little town by the sea and she missed it. Despite the dark beginnings that prompted the creation of Storybrooke, it had become her home over the past 30 years. It had brought her happiness through her son. The dark stonewalls of the palace brought back awful memories in a way Storybrooke never would or could. After all, how could the place where her heart had begun to heal ever do such a thing?

Regina joined the gang for meals, but spent most of her time in her bedchambers. After the death of the King, she'd changed rooms, not being able to bear to be in the same room she'd had…"relations" with the man who'd brought her so much misery. He might have been a kind man to Snow and a decent King, but he had been no gentleman to an unwilling Queen.

Regina was pulled out of her dark thoughts when she heard the large wooden door to her room being opened. She turned her head and saw her ex-daughter-in-law standing at the door. Her dress was simple but more in line with the time period there than modern day in Emma's world. The other Queen gave Regina a small, sad smile. Regina, although the Evil Queen would sneer at herself, smiled sadly back.

"What's troubling you, Regina?" Snow asked, approaching the large chair Regina was sitting rigidly in.

"Well I…" Regina was cut off.

"And I don't mean Henry. Believe me, I know. I lost my child the same time you did. What else is bothering you I mean?" said Snow softly. The two women, despite their rocky past, had found comfort in each other during the past month. They were in the same boat after all.

"I can't stop thinking about…about Emma," Regina admitted slowly, "She doesn't remember us. We're all just cookie-cutter, black and white storybook characters for her again. She doesn't know how we got here or why… She doesn't know us. And, as much as I don't like admitting it, before…she knew me better than anyone ever had," Regina trailed off with a sigh and Snow gave a sympathetic smile as she knelt down in front of Regina's chair. Snow cautiously joined their hands and Regina let her.

"She had a way of doing that, huh? Wiggling your way into your life, your business…Emma, when you least expected it, found a way to wiggle into your heart. She was like that with all of us, and it kills me as much as it does you that magic is blocking all those memories and people from her mind." Regina nodded in understanding. Before Regina had left the Enchanted Forest the first time, she would have done anything to have Snow on her knees before her like this. But Regina had changed. And now she allowed Snow to rest her forehead on their joined hands with nothing more than a mournful gaze down at the ebony hair.

* * *

Across time and space, in another realm, Emma Swan returned to breakfast with her son after being kissed by a man in leather that she'd never seen before. The kiss had been brief, and, although Emma would admit that the creepy stranger was sort of ruggedly handsome, she had felt absolutely nothing. That was, hands down, the strangest thing that had ever happened to her.

* * *

When Snow exited the room to check how far along dinner was, Regina got up and wandered over to her vanity. She ran her perfectly manicured fingers over the various bottles and boxes of perfume and makeup. When she looked up, she saw a reflection of a woman she had thought she knew.

The face Regina saw staring back at her wasn't evil, no, she was heartbroken beyond the temptations of evil. She definitely wasn't Mayor Mills, but she wasn't really Regina Mills either. Regina had been healing. Regina was full of life and hope. The person staring at her in the glass was a fading shadow of that woman.

"Mirror?" said Regina. The face of the Genie/Sydney appeared, having been sentenced back into the mirror upon arrival.

"How may I assist you, My Queen?" he asked.

"Show them to me. Show me my son…and my Savior," said Regina in a shaking voice. Sydney nodded once and the glass surface swirled with smoke until in revealed a real time image of what Regina had lost and what she was missing out on. The image presented to her was one of mother and son peacefully eating breakfast in a tasteful New York apartment.

"Of course it's tasteful," Regina thought with a hint of a smirk. It was her doing after all. Yet, the apartment décor still undeniably said "Emma", not "Regina"…nothing in their lives suggested Regina had ever existed outside of the storybooks Emma had undoubtedly read to Henry as a boy somewhere in their altered memories. Tears welled up in chocolate brown eyes as she watched her family living their lives without her, not even knowing how much pain it caused her.

* * *

A week later, Regina sat in her room. She held a book in her hand but her eyes only skimmed the pages, not a single sentence actually registering in her mind. Regina didn't find much pleasure in reading anymore...well, pretending to read, but it passed the time.

Out of nowhere, as swirling whirlwind of purple and green light shot out from the floor. Regina dropped her book. A tangle of limbs fell out from the void and landed with a thud on the stone floor. Regina stood and inched closer to the stranger. Her heart leapt when a mess of blonde hair came into view as she approached. Could it be? Regina didn't let herself get her hopes up…at least until she saw the face of the Savior looking up at her.

"…Emma?" she whispered. Green eyes met Regina's brown ones for the first time in much too long and Regina thought she might cry. The blonde nodded, still awestruck from her journey.

"Yeah. Do you know a Regina Mills?" asked Emma. Regina's eyes grew wide.

"I'm Regina Mills," she stated simply.

"Holy shit, you're beautiful…" Emma breathed out. The compliment did not go unheard and the Queen blushed.

"Emma, how on earth did you get here?" Regina asked, flabbergasted.

"Some crazy pirate named Hook found me and kissed me," replied Emma. Regina's heart dropped. So the pirate was Emma's True Love.

"And that's how you got here?" Regina asked dreading the answer.

"No, then he gave me some clear, sparkly bean. The kiss was just weird and uncalled for. He explained this whole weird story to me about how my entire memory of my life since my son's birth has been magic and I'm a Savior. I didn't believe him until I ended up on your floor…. Sorry about that, by the way," said Emma, getting up and turning to face the Queen. Regina breathed a sigh of relief.

"No! Don't be sorry at all, Emma! I've been waiting for you," Regina smiled, happier than she'd been in a long time. She simply loved the feeling of Emma's name rolling off her tongue again. She loved having the blonde in front of her again. Regina stepped closer, into Emma personal space like they'd always done. She felt Emma's warm breath tickling her cheeks and her heart was thumping loudly.

"Hook…he also said that, since we didn't work out, I was to go and find a Regina Mills. This Regina is supposedly going to help me remember." Emma was barely talking above a whisper now. This dark queen was strangely alluring in a way no one else had ever been for Emma.

"And how's that?" Regina breathed out. Emma grinned stupidly, the grin Regina had craved to see these many weeks.

"Kiss me, Your Majesty. Let me remember," Emma smiled before leaning in, wrapping her arms around the Queen's waist. Regina happily reciprocated, wrapping her arms around Emma's neck. As the kiss deepened beyond a peck, they both felt is. An old magic was stirring deep within them. It started as a spark. Then it grew. It grew into a wonderful, warm glow that washed the women in a happiness they'd never before felt.

As the kiss wound down, it was as if the clouded memories were dusted off, taking their rightful place in the timeline of Emma Swan's life. She pulled away, tears in her eyes as she looked at the woman she now knew for sure was her True Love. Regina saw the clarity Emma's eyes shown with and knew without words that she remembered. She too began to tear up.

"Emma? Is it really you?" asked Regina tentatively. Emma smiled, bring one hand up to cup Regina's cheek.

"It's me, Gina. I'm here," replied Emma, pulling the Queen in for a tight hug. Sobs racked the Queen's frame, and Emma held on tighter.

"It's you! You found me," the Dark Queen choked out between sobs. Emma stroked Regina's dark hair with one hand and held on for dear life with the other.

"Did you ever doubt I would?" Emma chuckled, "I love you, Regina Mills."

"I love you too, Emma," Regina smiled, "Never leave me again."

"Wasn't planning on it," smiled the blonde, "Now, take me down to see my parents." Regina reluctantly moved out of Emma's arms but led the Savior downstairs by the hand to a happy reunion with her family and friends.

"Now," said Emma later, "Let's go home and finally be a family!"

"But how, Emma? The kiss made you remember, but we're all still here," said Regina.

"Oh, believe me, Gina, I wasn't done with you," replied Emma, a wicked grin coming over her face. She pulled Regina to her and kissed her passionately for the second time. Magic swirled around everyone in the room, but Regina didn't even notice. When she finally opened her eyes, what she saw truly shocked her. The Enchanted Forest crew and Emma were standing outside none other than the Mayoral Mansion.

"But, Emma…how?" stuttered Regina.

"Even thought this was part of your curse, it became our home. We loved it here so if True Love can rectify my memory, why shouldn't it rebuild the place we fell in love?" said Emma. Regina looked in awe at her beautiful house in her beautiful town. She never thought she'd see this place again and was so much more than grateful she was now going to live there…with her family.

"Mom?" came the familiar voice of a boy. Regina spun around, eyes wide, as her baby boy approached. She felt Emma come up, placing a hand on the small of her back.

"He's not talking to me, ya know," whispered Emma.

"Oh, Henry!" Regina cried as the boy flung himself into his mother's open arms. After letting them have a moment together, Emma came up and wrapped her arms around both of them. She'd found her family, and she was never letting them go.


End file.
